Club Vampyr

Chapter 5

Kerry awoke around noon, instantly disoriented by the black sateen pillowcase her face was smushed into. The sun was shining through the window and onto the back of her head, making the scalp under her hair feel hot. She ran her tongue over her teeth, feeling the fuzziness of not brushing before bed. Groaning, she rolled over. Her cheek still felt damp and she was sure the creases from the pillow were now attractive red marks on her face. Her whole body was aching from the wracking sobs she had experienced the night before and the material from Nathaniel's top had rubbed her skin raw under the arms. She lifted her hand up to shield her swollen eyes before opening them.

Nathaniel was seated on the burgundy beanbag next to Nelle's bed, watching her.

"Gah!" Kerry yelled, groping for a blanket. Her head was still on automatic, equating just waking up to just waking up wearing only a t-shirt. It took her a second before rationality kicked in and she realized she had been wearing the same clothes he had left her in the night before. Of course, she was sure if she got out a measuring tape, it would turn out that her night-shirt had more material. "What are you doing here?"

"Same thing you are, probably." Nathaniel replied, staring at a photo album open on his lap.

Since she had come in here to be closer to Nelle and have a good cry, she was sure he was right. "This is foolish," she told him, sitting up and rubbing at her damp face. "She didn't die, or anything."

"She did die." Nathaniel argued with her, looking back to the book as if this conversation was too difficult for him.

Kerry didn't really know how to comfort him. He felt exactly the way she did. She had been realizing that a lot lately. If anything, this experience was bringing her closer to this wacko who sometimes dated her best friend but who she was sure loved Nelle as much as she did.

"Stop pretending everything is okay, because it isn't!" Nathaniel spoke harshly, almost yelling at her.

Kerry fell silent, simply looking at him.

"I heard you crying in here," he told her, looking pointedly. She had forgotten that his room in his apartment was right next to Nelle's room. Sometimes, they used to hold really loud conversations while lying in bed on Saturday mornings. This was one Saturday they wouldn't be doing so. "I thought you could use some company."

"Not really," she informed him, starting to freeze him out because he had heard her emotional reaction to the night before. She was sure his pronouncement had caused her to blush slightly, but worse than that was the knowledge that he knew. He had heard and witnessed her breakdown. "I wasn't really crying."

For the first time that morning, Nathaniel really looked at her. "Tears aren't the enemy," he frowned, and she knew he was starting to see more than she was comfortable with. "I'm glad you did. I was starting to feel like a baby compared to your strength. You've known her for longer than I have. You don't have to hide how you feel."

But she did. Why couldn't he understand that her control was sometimes the only thing she had left? Kerry nodded, knowing he was right but unable to stop herself from wondering how long she had been adopting a mask. She used to cry freely, hadn't she? Had her mother changed that? Had Michel? She'd think about it later. Scooting forward on the bed, she leaned forward and took his hand. "I don't want to be alone right now either," she told him softly. The layers in her hair fell gently over her eyes, hiding them from sight. She was still slightly uncomfortable with opening up to him, but he needed the reassurance as much as she did. It wasn't often that she didn't feel completely alone when life threw her another problem to deal with.

The moment was over as quickly as she initiated it. "Do you want some coffee?" She asked him, slipping back into her friendly demeanor.

"Chocolate milk?" He asked, playing along with pretending everything was normal.

"Sure, I think we have some in the fridge." Kerry got up from the bed, finger combing her hair behind her ears so that it fell around her shoulders without obscuring her face. It was always safe to talk about food with Nathaniel. "Want some breakfast?"

"It's after twelve."

"Lunch then?"

"I'm not really hungry." Nathaniel smiled crookedly at her. She noticed that his hair was limp and slightly greasy. This was the first time, including when he had the flu last year, that she had seen him not care about how his precious hair-style looked. That in itself was far more telling than any tears or furious conversations could be.

Kerry sighed, half way to the door. "Me neither." She stood in the center of the room feeling inadequate. She just didn't know what to do with herself. She liked to think she was a girl of action, and all this sitting around and waiting for things to happen and for news on Nelle was slowly grating on her nerves. Kerry wanted to be productive. "Is there anything we should do?" She asked. If anyone would know about these things it would be the somber man sitting beside the bed. He had gone through it all with his father. "Call her parents or report her missing or anything?"

Nathaniel looked up sharply from staring at memories on paper. "We don't even know she's a vampire."

Kerry's eyes widened in shock. Yes they did. Tim had said… nothing, now that she thought about it. "Wouldn't your dad have told us if she was dead?"

He laughed sharply, his bitterness like a razor cutting beneath the surface. "I don't know anymore. He called before dawn to ream me out for going to the club after he told me not to."

"Mmmhmmm," Kerry muttered, not really sure how to respond. She knew if their situations were reversed, her dad would so the same.

"He says to watch out for you and that he'll be back to pick you up around eight." Before she could answer, he continued on. "It just seems to strange, you know? He was always so larger than life. My dad, the big bad vampire. Now all I see him as is some slave to someone else."

"It's like he's working for a living. My dad has a boss too, that doesn't make him weaker or anything," Kerry replied, trying to comfort her friend. She knew what it was like to worship someone who fell far below your expectations. Since Nelle had dragged them to Club Vampyr, it seemed all she and Nathaniel had were serious conversations, though that wasn't true since both of them were very good at misdirection and playing pretend, and Kerry always felt at a loss for what to say so long as they weren't yelling their frustrations at each other or joking around to hide their true anguish. "I'm sure he would have told you straight out whether she was dead. We talked about her being a vampire last night and he didn't contradict us either."

"He told me I shouldn't be worried about Nelle right now," Nathaniel said pointedly, getting up from his seat so he could be eye to eye with her. That didn't bode well.

"No, you shouldn't."

"Apparently, I should be worried about you," he brushed passed her as if he resented Tim's suggestion that Nelle should not be the focus of his concern.

"Me? Why?" She followed him into the hallway, frowning in confusion. Nathaniel turned on her, suddenly angry. Good, she could deal with anger better than she could moping.

"What do you know about vampires?"

"Not much," Kerry admitted.

"Did you know about them before I told you last night?" As far as inquisitions went, Nathaniel wasn't the greatest.

"Which time?" Kerry laughed. It sounded hollow and fake to her own ears. She felt as though the hallway walls were closing in on her. "Everyone knows about vampires. Buffy was a big hit to our generation."

Nathaniel narrowed her eyes in frustration, running his hand through his hair in a gesture which was so heartbreakingly like one Michel had directed towards her once upon a time that she suddenly had the urge to tell Nathaniel the entire story. She couldn't, yet. This was the wrong time to think of Michel because she was trying her best to deny he was real so she wouldn't be lying to Nathaniel. "Stop misdirecting me. Have you or have you not encountered a vampire before now, or was everything that happened in that room a fluke?"

"Oh come on," Kerry hedged. "That woman was obviously a vampire. I don't think any humans would be able to do that."

"Kerry," Nathaniel warned.

"I…" She looked right into Nathaniel's eyes. "Had no idea what I was doing in that room." She lied to him. Well, it was the truth, but she intentionally didn't mention that she had encountered a vampire before. Immediately, she felt guilty due to her father's influence instilling good morals into his children. The voice in her head which sounded suspiciously like Michel congratulated her for successfully maintaining eye contact.

Nathaniel sighed, slumping against the wall and pressing his fingers against the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry. It's important that you're warned."

"About what?" Kerry asked, wondering what was going on. It obviously stemmed from his conversation with his father. Both of them were so concerned with finding out what she knew that it was starting to make her paranoid. Now, more than ever, she was glad she hadn't just blurted out what she knew about Michel. She had promised to protect him no matter what it took, hadn't she? Even though she hadn't seen the vampire for years, she was still in that closet prepared to hold the door closed with her fingernails.

"Apparently someone there noticed something strange about what happened and told the Boss. The vampires are now curious about you. They think you know something you shouldn't." Nathaniel leaned against the wall in the hall, arms crossed and gaze unwaveringly. He looked like an entirely different boy than the one who joked with her less than 24 hours before.

"Let them be curious," Kerry told him flippantly. Inside she was starting to grow worried. She couldn't help but draw equivalents between this experience with vampires and her previous one. Then, when she had realized Ethan was a vampire, he had tried to kill her. Was she about to walk into another situation where the vampires would try to kill her for her knowledge? She really needed to remember that she was in a dangerous position. "What did I do?" she squeaked, already picturing her death.

"I don't know," Nathaniel informed her. "But you should try to remember exactly what happened." He stood up from her position against the wall and turned to finish walking down the hallway. At first she thought he was going to the kitchen to steal some of their food like he did almost every day. Instead, Nathaniel bypassed the kitchen and grabbed the knob to the front door. "Just promise me one thing, Ker."

"What?" She asked, her mind racing to figure out where she went wrong. She couldn't remember slipping up and giving her knowledge about vampires away a single time. Each thing she did could be explained as normal reactions. Knowing Nelle was being killed by a vampire? Well, they were in a place called Club Vampyr, it was a suitable assumption. Knowing that vampires could change humans? Well, like she had told Nathaniel a few minutes ago – vampires were a big fantasy to this generation.

"Try not to lie tonight. Vampires can hear heartbeats, so it is like they have a built-in lithograph." Nathaniel opened the door, continuing his speech framed by the wooden panels of the doorframe. "And they aren't as forgiving as I am," he informed her, shutting the door harder than was necessary.

Kerry let the wall behind her support her weight as she slid down to the floor. She didn't cry, only stare at the weaving in the carpet as if she could discern the thread which would unravel all her problems. So Nathaniel suspected she was lying. What was she going to do now? There was no way she'd be able to sit in front of a vampire and deny that she didn't know a thing about them. She couldn't even succeed in doing that with a human. He was right. She was so screwed. She needed a plan.

Maybe she should just run away. Would they find her?

She needed more than a plan. She needed Michel.

©RelenaFanel.July14.2006

AN- You know I love you guys, right? Now, with Michel still not in the picture, you have to remember how much you love me. I know it is frustrating, but I think it would be too easy for me to begin the story with him.

Care to hazard a guess where he will show up?